Mar 7, 2016

Judges Guild Deluxe Edition

I recently helped Goodman Games to layout a compilation of classic Judges Guild material into a giant deluxe edition. My interest in Judges Guild goes back to the very first experiences I had with Dungeons & Dragons. I went to a local bookstore in Tucson Arizona back in 1982 after I first learned about D&D to get some of the books. In a back corner they had a stack of Judges Guild material, but none of the TSR stuff. I was a bit confused as the only D&D books I'd seen at the time were the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Red Box (Moldvay) set. These books didn't look quite like what I was searching for.
Years later I came to understand that they were Judges Guild publications and (to this day) kicked myself for not picking up any of those books!
I got some good fortune recently when Goodman Games asked me to do the layout for an EPIC Judges Guild book that compiled the first publications and the classic adventures that Judges Guild did before Adventure Modules even existed! This was like delving into the very earliest days of RPG gaming at the dawn of D&D history. I got access to those earliest publications of Judges Guild in incredibly high fidelity scans. I want to say this book is an old D&D fan's dream. These are the books I missed out on in my youth, and am getting to enjoy and appreciate now.
Goodman Games started a Kickstarter to fund the publication of this reprint of classic Judges Guild material. I have the fully laid out book on my hard drive and can't wait to get the print edition. This book is massive and monumental. I hope you are as excited as I am to back the Kickstarter!




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2 comments:

  1. Brooser BearMarch 8, 2016 at 7:13 AM

    I remember days in the 1980's, before Internet laid all secrets bare. There was TSR AD&D stuff at every toy store, but you had to go to Compleat Strategist and stores in Chinatown to discover D&D stuff from folks other than TSR. Dungeon tiles. Tunnels and Trolls, and the Judges' Guild Fantasy Cartographers' series!!! I didn't have money, so I only picked one - Village Guide. The village random name generation guide predated Gygax's Book Of Names by decades!

    Judges Guild DM's aids had full size photocopy-able hex sheets. If you have any say in the matter, please make sure that all of the forms that were originally meant to be photocopied, are printed in the full size, preferably in a detachable supplement, especially in a giant compilation volume.

    Thanks, am looking forward to this book!

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  2. Thomas DenmarkMarch 8, 2016 at 1:03 PM

    The books that are reprinted in this edition are complete, including any sheets, forms, even the ads, etc. And they have bonus material some of which has not been printed before. Like hand drawn maps by Bob Bledsaw, articles by various authors, and so on.

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